fourbizz

We must be talking about a different part of the post spawn roger. The time that I am talking about, the males will still be guarding the nest or fry. Certainly when the female FIRST comes off the bed she is very neutral. But they can't recoup without food, and they can't waste what little energy they have left chasing 2" shad all over the place. Thats why I think that a very big, slow moving bait out around the first deepwater break or nearest point is the way to go. But like I said, you guys definitely know more about this than me, just my thoughts/observations. These fish were the first two fish after I stopped looking for bed fish, both too big to be males and spawned out. 5 FOW main lake points 8" trout bait.

Wow, guys, my brain hurts! You guys have it way more figured out then I do! There seems to be a bunch of emphasis on the pre spawn and spawn in this post. I believe that the best swimbait bite of the whole year is post spawn. The fish are obviously not as big as they were a couple weeks before, but they are in shallow, warm water and they are ravenously hungry and need to expend as little energy as possible to get as much protein as possible. Fatty, big, dumb rainbow trout offers the best protein vs calories burned out here. But Gizzard Shad, Salmon, herring, or sunfish will probably be menu item #1 lacking trout. I love sight fishing for spawning fish and this was the first year that I could really get into it because we had a very dry year and the water was clear. the two years before that we had record rainy seasons and most of the lakes were chocolate milk for the spawn. I spent 2 days on a fish this year and never got her. Sight fishing is the hand to hand combat of the bass fishing war . My first female of the bed this year was a DD and since then, all I can think about is having another 6 hour stare down with one of those monsters. I will try to concentrate this year on fish in the 7-15 foot range because I feel that the majority of the GIANT fish out here are spawning early, very deep in our clear water lakes. But anyway the real point I guess was that you shouldn't overlook post spawn as a prime big fish period. If you don't have the drive to throw big baits the rest of the year, that first month AFTER the spawn is when I would recomend big baits. I'd like to hear Mattlures' take on some of this because I know that he is a good spring fisherman!

yep, but i would reccomend the osprey tournament talon which is 6", because it has a top hook, which i really like. http://www.***.com/descpageSWMOSPREY-OTTH.html

Never used them. I have always used the ospreys for those type of baits.

This is a 12inch MS Slammer that I have had for a couple years. This summer I rattle canned it black and named it Lucy (short for Lucifer ;D). I never cleared it or anything and it was looking pretty bad so I decided to redo it.I only ever fish this bait in the dark and usually in dingy water, so I opted to try kind of a fun pattern for it. I think it turned out pretty cool. Also replaced the old, beat up, "cat" eyes that it had and made a new tail as well. This is fun!

Well, I am going to have to say that I agree with Randall. I try not to get into stuff like this because people always like to talk crap and doubt when you get a big fish. That really bums me out. BUt after all the things posted, i saved some pictures to my computer and blew them up with adobe photoshop. I am fairly certain that his "14lb2oz" fish and his "12lb9oz fish are the same one. I blew the tails on those fish up to the exact same size and mirrored one of them so that they had the same orientation. They had the same shape, proportioning and most importantly an identical sore on the bottom of the tail. Now fish get these sores alot and for many different reasons. but the one on the bottom of the tail is almost always found during or right after the spawn, from fanning the bed. Add in that the extreme greenery behind both pictures and the T-shirt, says it was a spring or early summer fish. Also the big old splotch on the side in the "14lb" picture tells me she is dead. And like Randall said, the fish in his avatar he posted in 2 different threads a couple weeks apart. One said that it was caught in the last 2 years and the other that it was caught a couple weeks before. They both have the exact same cross shaped marking in the lateral line. I have known for along time that big fish can make people ugly, but I'm pretty sure that you , HBA, are taking us for a ride. Not Cool.

i don't know, but it is the same force that makes a crank swing to the left or right first. I would imagine that any asymmetry in the bait would cause one side to catch just a hair more water to get started. it just works ok, leave me alone, LOL jk

My dream trip is where I leave my house at 4 in the morning, drive to the lake with my dad, fish all day, and stick a 15+.

nothings wrong with CB he is actually the single greatest thing that ever happened to bass fishing. just ask him ;D

couldn't help mysefl ;D

Naw LBH, i use little baits sometimes too, my pb was on a 10" worm

what causes a crankbait to wobble instead of just diving straight down.....? hydrodynamics. it catches just enough to start to one side, then it is pulled as far as it can until the resistance becomes too much, then it will start back to the other side and the process is repeated.

its called a Stocker Trout just imagine that each of the wings is like a diving bill on a crank. as the catch water they pull the tail section to one side, then the other wing pulls it back to the other side. it looks good in the water. creme did the same thing with their little fishies, but the "wings are the flaps on the side that are made out of soft plastic

I don't think either fish looks dead. a little stressed, but not dead. the topic should have stopped at "yes, they were released" great catches HBA! is it my turn yet? ;D

Thanks guys! I use a coat of epoxy to seal my big baits before painting, but i was afraid that it might affect the action of the crank. is that not a problem? I just got ahold of an old microwave and have yet to get started on the build for a drying wheel. Since I do not thin it on my big baits and i do it in a room that is only about 60 degrees, i have been getting away with no wheel. but on the crank i had to hold it in my hand for 20 minutes while i watched tv, it was a pain.

by the way pulled that off of one of my local forums this morning. looks like she was caught yesterday. I love being right

The barometer! A rapidly falling barometer gets the fish active. Out here it really gets the trout stirred up and they come shallow and mill around. That means that they are cruising past ambush points. It also gets the big largemouth much more active and since the trout have moved shallow, so typically will the big bass. and yeah a warmer surface temp and and a nice chop on the water help out too

I have 2 of the 7.5" baits. I would not reccomend anything similar to them, because anything similar is just a poor imitation. those baits rock

TEASE! ;D

I love watching predators at work. Seeing a gigantic largemouth chase down and annihilate a 12" trout gets me more pumped than anything. Do the trout fishermen like it? Probably not. What bothers me the most is the fact that the guy has a 20+inch fish in a 55 gallon tank when it should be in a 180+. Poor thing can barely turn around.

What are some of the things in your life that you just can't seem to get rid of. Here are some of mine: The girl whose name you do not know that is lying beside you when you wake up. The mental image of that giant bed fish from this spring. The half bottle of Triple Sec that is in the liquor cabinet. The one blue striped sock that doesnt have a mate, yet keeps showing up in the dryer Junky old rattle traps that you found shore combing Berkley Line Old girlfriends' panties The desire to punch Dr. Phil those are some that come to mind please note: " burley, fourbizz, and muddy man ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE ANSWERS, craig baugher is however "

Thanks Matt! I'm not sure I wanna show the kids my cards yet ;D

I have a couple of the Creme lil fishies. they really are kind of nifty little baits. I don't think that the creme corp realized what their lil' fishie would inspire one day. This is a pretty good big bass bait and uses the same mid-bait wing principle to get its action. not a realistic bait to look at, but put it in the water and it looks tasty!

The official color is " I just winged it somewhere along the lines of chartreuse shad with purple back, but now that jimzee mentions it, it is table rock shad, but not on purpose" Kind of a long name for a color, but oh well.

wait... you put a DC on a flippin stick?!?!? you're nuts!